*shrugs shoulders like Fry* Sorry, the parallels where too much to resist!

It's always interesting to see the culture of humor in one country about another. I take it that the Brits see "all" americans this way (shown in the video). I think most americans would see it as a goof on a particular country-music sub-culture.

(15-08-2012 02:11 PM)fstratzero Wrote: The first nation to rise up against the kings, the priests, the churches, to have freedom from that system.

The roman republic, beat you by a couple of thousand years to that claim.

Legal Disclaimer: I am right, I reserve the right to be wrong without notice, opinions may change, your statutory rights are not affected, opinions expressed are not my own and are an approximation for the sake of communication.

*shrugs shoulders like Fry* Sorry, the parallels where too much to resist!

It's always interesting to see the culture of humor in one country about another. I take it that the Brits see "all" americans this way (shown in the video). I think most americans would see it as a goof on a particular country-music sub-culture.

I don't use the word 'goof' that much (know a few people who went to prison who pale to the other meaning of that term, but do understand lots don't know of it). I found a middle-ground video for this occasion.

(15-08-2012 03:24 PM)cheapthrillseaker Wrote: What happens if I say it like that? Will I turn into a pillar of salt, since I'm Canadian? *tries it* Anybody need seasoning? There seems to be a surplus over here.

(15-08-2012 10:15 AM)cufflink Wrote: But there's obviously no objective reality in his statement.

Cufflink, I'd like to see you support this statement. Are you coming from a position where everyone in the class should get a first place ribbon?

If you're talking about whether the kid's statement in my example--that his father is "the best in the world"--is true, we'd have to have clear, measurable standards by which to compare parents, and I'd be surprised if those existed. Even if they did, it's unlikely the kid just happens to have the one father who comes out ahead of the billions of others on the planet.

If you're talking about whether a country is "the best in the world," you also need clear, measurable standards. In this case, however, there are objective ways to rank nations. And when you take a look at where the U.S. falls in terms of things like life expectancy at birth (we're #50), infant mortality (49th best), and education (#21), we're far from the top. We are better in terms of per capita GDP (only 10 countries beat us), although that doesn't take into account growing income inequality.

When it comes to the main concerns of this forum, despite the recent good news about the advance of atheism we're still by far the most religion-ridden of the advanced industrialized nations.

In terms of human rights we've obviously had a checkered history, to put it mildly. As a nation that long tolerated slavery and until the 1960s had laws in some places requiring separate education, separate seating on buses, and separate water fountains for blacks, we can rejoice in how far we've come, but we have little to boast about in this area. And although things are moving in the right direction, we're not exactly at the forefront of equality for GLBT people.

There are two places where we're clearly at the top. One is military strength. The other is freedom of expression--and that's very much to our credit.

As an American, there are things I love about my country and things I very much want to see change. What I've never understood is the urge among some of my compatriots to beat their chests and scream "WE"RE NUMBER ONE!" at anyone within shouting distance. I mean, what's the point--especially when it's clear to any informed outsider that in so many areas we're not number one?

Just so it's clear, you are aware that the "America Fuck Yeah" video in the OP was meant as a parody, right? It's from the movie Team America: World Police . As Wikipedia explains it:

Quote:"America (Fuck Yeah)": Played throughout various parts of the film, along with the "America, Fuck Yeah (Bummer Remix)", intended to mock the stereotypical American's jingoist form of patriotism.

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but I wasn't sure you realized it was a spoof.

Religious disputes are like arguments in a madhouse over which inmate really is Napoleon.

Note the long list of European countries where denying the Holocaust is a crime. Please don't get me wrong--I think Holocaust deniers are the scum of the earth, and given 20th century European history I can understand the motivation for such legislation. But as someone noted, our philosophy, for better or worse, is "I may hate what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

ETA: Another example is hate speech:

Quote:Unlike what has been called a strong international consensus that hate speech needs to be prohibited by law and that such prohibitions override, or are irrelevant to, guarantees of freedom of expression, the United States is perhaps unique among the developed world in that under law, hate speech is legal.